


The Argument In Favor of Sterek (an Open Letter to Jeff Davis)

by homoeroticismforthewin



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M, Meta, Non-fic, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-25
Updated: 2012-08-25
Packaged: 2017-11-12 20:24:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/495308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/homoeroticismforthewin/pseuds/homoeroticismforthewin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is my open letter to Jeff Davis, I have tweeted it to him, but I'm fairly certain it got lost in the shuffle. Feel free to pimp it for me if you agree with my argument, because hey, can't hurt- just don't spam anyone. Con-crit and conflicting opinions welcome in the comments (unless you're just generally being homophobic, in which case go fuck yourself).</p>
    </blockquote>





	The Argument In Favor of Sterek (an Open Letter to Jeff Davis)

**Author's Note:**

> This is my open letter to Jeff Davis, I have tweeted it to him, but I'm fairly certain it got lost in the shuffle. Feel free to pimp it for me if you agree with my argument, because hey, can't hurt- just don't spam anyone. Con-crit and conflicting opinions welcome in the comments (unless you're just generally being homophobic, in which case go fuck yourself).

Jeff,

You said that you could be persuaded about Sterek. Here is my attempt at a cogent, thoughtful , and pragmatic argument in favor of establishing Sterek as canon. I know you’re busy, but please at least read the handily provided Executive Summary, and then decide whether or not you’d like to progress to the full argument. I appreciate any and all time you can devote to this, and thank you again for the incredible work you have done on Teen Wolf. It has meant so much to so many of us.

Executive Summary:

-Being character-driven is a primary strength of TW, and Sterek shippers understand and appreciate this. We respect the work that goes into TW and we want it to be the best show that it can be. We think that includes Sterek. Stiles and Derek are fascinating characters, with interesting areas of commonality and conflict. This creates sufficient dramatic tension to allow them to have a meaningful storyline together, which could go in any number of directions. Conflict is interesting, and happy endings should be earned: no one is expecting unimpeded happiness for the characters. Ideally the relationship would provide interest, variance, and momentum for the stories that the show wishes to tell. A romantic connection would create unique possibilities for character growth and raise the dramatic stakes of an already compelling relationship. The characters of Stiles and Derek are uniquely situated to present a gay love story to the TW audience due to the roles they play on the show. LGBT representation on TV could be aided by the creation of a relationship like Sterek, and that is a worthy cause, presenting a unique opportunity. Finally, TW can only benefit dramatically and commercially from a Sterek relationship. There is no downside.

Full Argument: 

 

What I find odd about Teen Wolf is how much I love all of the characters. This is not typical for me. I’m a greedy person. I used to fast-forward through Buffy/Angel scenes to get to the next Willow or Giles bit (only on rewatch, but Still). I love my characters, and I love them hard, and I wish that every second of my show or book or whatever could focus on them. And while Stiles Stilinski is easily my favorite character on Teen Wolf, I don’t do that. I don’t really get impatient with this show, not with any of the characters. The characters are so well-written and well-executed and the stories that are told are so overwhelmingly character-driven that I just can’t bring myself to be bored with any character. I hated Kate, and Victoria, and Gerard. And yet, despite all of that, I still cried big ugly tears over Victoria’s death. The characters I hated were still riveting.

I genuinely love the entire ensemble, and I constantly want to see Danny or Mr. Stilinski or Mrs. McCall get more screentime. I want to see fans stop being mad at Allison and start loving how badass she is/was, even though she’s used it to hurt our favorite people, because that adds such a cool dimension to her character. I really legitimately LOVE the every one of the characters. And I want to see them caught up in interesting, exciting, heartbreaking, funny, and inspiring arcs, because those are the stories that these beautiful characters deserve. My love for Sterek is not about pushing for immediate gratification at the expense of long-term character development, or story-telling. For me, Sterek is about long-term character development and story-telling.

Now, it is possible that there’s a storyline currently in the works that is brilliant and wouldn’t work with Sterek happening. And if that’s the case, I’m okay with that. I’d really prefer a little nod to the fans saying “Sterek is an interesting idea, but I have a Thing to do that has to happen first.” I promise, I’d live. I don’t need Sterek Now. I need it to happen in a way that is right for the characters and absorbing for the viewers. Nobody on the planet is better equipped to make that happen than you, Jeff Davis, you who has done a stellar job with the show to date. I am greedy and impatient, but I’ll wait if I have to. But I Do want it eventually, because I think it would be amazing.

Because I think Stiles and Derek could work together. Not just because of the old love-hate trope, which is a classic for a reason even if it is a cliché, but because the characters have such a fascinating relationship. They have similar histories of loss and aloneness. They both see the world from the outsider viewpoint (ironically, for Derek this outsider perspective is centered around being a werewolf, while Stiles’ is increasingly centered around his not being a werewolf), but both value that perspective. They both feel an intense need to connect, to have family. They are both highly moral, and simultaneously pragmatic to the point of ruthlessness in their protection of the people they love. They are instinctively heroic, and yet resentful of the heroism of others because it strikes them as cavalier self-endangerment. These are fascinating traits shared by well-developed characters.

Their differences are similarly compelling. Derek wears a big bad wolf mask, pretending to be an invulnerable tough guy, and Stiles is a goofball, distracting everyone from the fearful, despairing, angry, bitter parts of himself that he feels are less palatable. Stiles is a thinker, Derek is all action. And Derek is served well by his instincts, just as Stiles is by his intellect.

Which is why when the two of them work together, things get so interesting so quickly. Sometimes they work at cross-purposes, but sometimes they catch each other before a mistake can be made. Stiles was right to falter over removing Derek’s arm, to ask how Derek planned to distract the desk sergeant at the police station, to let Derek go in the pool to try to call Scott. Derek was right to rush in to the hospital, to shove Stiles out of the Kanima’s path, to make Stiles break the mountain ash barrier. When they work together they consider both perspectives and then they take a risk. In Stiles’ case, he takes more risks than he otherwise would. In Derek’s case, he tempers his instincts with planning and caution.

The two stand to learn so much from one another. Because these two broken, lonely characters could really connect, aggravate each other, challenge each other, and use each other to hold themselves up to the light and get a clearer look at themselves. Great character arcs are transformative, transcendent, and we have already seen this begin to happen between these two characters. We’ve seen how Stiles is uniquely assertive and brave when he’s challenged by Derek, how Derek is exasperated but forced to be thoughtful when he’s challenged by Stiles. We see the potential for character growth in the conflict.

But transformative character arcs don’t just move towards heroism. What’s interesting about the Stiles and Derek relationship is that while they clearly have the potential to comfort and help each other (Stiles allowing Derek to laugh, Derek letting Stiles feel less alone and more valuable to the group), they could also slide down into some dark places together. Stiles has the capacity to be ruthless and if he and Derek were on the same side of a perceived risk, they could do some real damage, especially as both characters lose their connections with the people in their lives that ground them. As Derek spirals out of control, losing his pack, facing new threats, not sure who he can trust, Stiles could ground him, or he could unseat him completely. As Stiles pretends like everything is fine, feels further from his father, further from Scott, tries desperately to go back only to find that he can’t… this is the time that he could go to a truly dark place, and the idea of a badass, ruthless Stiles is electrifying.

It’s pretty obvious that these two characters play well together and could have an interesting storyline, but I haven’t made any kind of case for why that should happen in the context of a romantic or sexual relationship. But I think it is undeniable that Stiles finds Derek compelling. I believe that Derek admires Stiles, even as he finds him frustrating. I believe that there is already guarded affection between the characters. I also believe that Derek would be drawn towards someone he saw as weaker than him in response to his relationship with Kate and the threat that closeness has come to represent, and I think he would initially read Stiles as being weaker. I believe that Stiles, feeling vulnerable in the midst of so much upheaval, would turn towards someone he saw as being stronger and more in control, not to submit but to render his world more predictable and thus safer, and that he would believe Derek was those things.

I think both would find the other’s failings compared to their internalized ideas of who they were looking for frustrating, but that ultimately they would care for each other and find value in the relationship regardless of how little it matched their expectations. And yes, all of this could just as easily happen in a platonic relationship, too. But given that Stiles appears to be questioning his sexuality or at least communicating its fluidity/non-heterosexual expression, and given that Derek’s attractiveness is canonical at this point (see his flirting with the desk sergeant at the police department), I don’t see a reason to believe that Stiles would not be sexually attracted to Derek.

And while I can think of several reasons that Derek might be hesitant to engage in a sexual relationship with Stiles*, I can’t think of any reasons why he wouldn’t at least want to, assuming that he is not conceived of as strictly heterosexual (and at this point I can see no reason why this character would be except for television convention). Stiles is attractive, smart, funny, attentive, and caring. Beyond the purely sexual, which I have a hard time articulating a case for, but I feel is fairly apparent based on the onscreen dynamic**, I feel that Stiles would be a good partner for Derek. He needs someone to challenge him, to support him, and he needs someone who is unquestioningly loyal. That person is Stiles. Stiles needs someone who will value him over all others, but not coddle or pity him, and who will respect his intelligence and humor. Derek is that person. These characters are complementary in so many ways.

Again, while I suppose an epic bromance could fit the bill, taking this relationship to a sexual/romantic place would give added weight and salience to the relationship. This is especially true given Stiles’ lack of sexual/romantic experience, and Derek’s damaging relationship with Kate. It would raise the emotional stakes of every interaction between them, and it could propel both characters towards interesting re-evaluations of themselves. Stiles’ character-appropriate and yet slightly uncanny emotional maturity could level a great deal of the inherent power imbalance of the relationship and provide stability. Or, if things went in a different direction, the capacity of both characters for obsession and obfuscation could make for an interesting progression from flirtation to fixation, and their ambivalence and annoyance with each other could produce an interestingly possessive and vindictive sexual dynamic not entirely missing from the volatile nature of many early sexual relationships.

Ultimately, a gay love story is inherently worth telling. Teen Wolf is to my knowledge unique in that it has set out to situate itself in a comparative social utopia, free of homophobia, sexism, and racism. We see this around the character of Danny, who is popular and well-liked and gay and entirely without drama on that count. And while I would certainly never discourage the further development of Danny as a character, I feel like this story would best be told using Derek and Stiles. After all, Stiles is the everyman, the joking, lovable character that the audience unreservedly relates to. He is absolutely the heart of the show. Not the center, but the heart. And Derek is an archetypal tortured hero, striving to do right in the world but weighed down by his past and his own human failings.

Given the usual othering of Queer characters, it would be beyond unique to tell a gay love story about the boy next door falling in love with the hero, the audience stand-in and the audience ideal. And to do it in the context of a world comparatively free of homophobia would be utterly groundbreaking. We have gay love stories. We have heartrending, tragic gay love stories. We have sweet, romantic, sanitized gay love stories. We do not by any means have a wealth of messy, real love stories about two humans trying to get by and learn to do right by one another in a context of acceptance but in the midst of dramatic action. Unresolved sexual tension is far from the only romantic story worth telling, especially when these characters are not the central protagonist and love interest.

All of the obvious importance of Queer representation is salient here. It is true that having gay characters on television helps to normalize homosexuality for gay and straight viewers alike, and that this normalizing can have a massive impact on the self-perception of gay kids and the acceptance that they may receive from their peers. The altruism angle is there. But there’s also a delicious angle unique to this context: You have the opportunity to do something New. Not only would it be unprecedented to make a fan-ship canon in this manner, it would be a chance to tell a new kind of story, and that is not a chance that comes up often. Not just a love story, not just the hero’s journey, but a new kind of story about endurance and connection and growth in the world that so many of us strive to build.

Finally, while Teen Wolf has exploded in its popularity, it has the opportunity to be even more of a commercial success. Now, it may seem that adopting a fan-ship*** would only drive it further from mainstream appeal and reduce its credibility. But the show has an audience and it needs to build on it. And the people who could be brought into the audience here are not an insignificant viewing group. You can reach young people, who are overwhelmingly progressive in their politics. You can reach an older demographic to whom genre shows appeal. You can reach the LGBT audience who are often so vocal in their support of shows as to literally make or break them.

The commercial success of Teen Wolf is not likely be jeopardized by a move towards Sterek, so much as helped. Also, Teen Wolf is in a unique position to make this move, being on MTV rather than primetime network television. Commercially, this is feasible. Dramatically, it is promising. Socially, it is inspiring. Believe me when I tell you that there is literally no downside to Sterek. We’re not asking you to compromise your artistic vision of the show. Merely to expand it. Trust the fandom, Trust the Instinct.

Respectfully,

A Sterek Shipper, and dedicated Teen Wolf fan

*To briefly address two common fan concerns related to this ship, both of which the character of Derek would be cognizant of, I do not believe that the age difference or the comparatively hostile interactions between the two represent a major stumbling block. Both Derek’s age and his status as a werewolf represent magnifications of the power differential between the two. On the surface, his physical aggression towards Stiles may read as an abuse of that power. However, Stiles has demonstrated repeatedly that he is capable of holding his own with Derek. Stiles’ power in the relationship derives from his status as a human and the Sherriff’s son, his knowledge of Derek’s secret, and his intellect. Stiles is much more socially skilled than Derek, and navigates this relationship with comparative ease. While Stiles may not feel comfortable in the relationship, he appears to have come to a point of feeling safe in it.

Further, while Derek may be older and occasionally hostile, he does not engage in the insidious abusive and para-abusive behaviors that would entrench his power over Stiles. He does not attempt to isolate Stiles socially, or control or manipulate him. When Derek demands things of Stiles, there is often an explicit verbal threat of violence, but there is no underlying social threat of abandonment or resentment. And while Derek’s communication to Stiles is colored by his own biases, he makes no attempts to spin things- unlike in his communications with Scott, Derek seems to want Stiles to see situations clearly. This honesty also levels the playing field.

Ultimately, their relationship is remarkably egalitarian, with both characters saving each other on a regular basis. It just so happens that Stiles uses his mind and courage instead of super-strength and claws to do it. When Stiles behaves heroically, it is not as a martyr, and when Stiles helps Derek, he is providing uniquely helpful skills. Stiles is an active participant in both the relationship and in the dangerous werewolfy shenanigans. He makes his own decisions and carries out his own plans. As such, the power differential in the relationship is essentially mitigated, rendering both age difference and Derek’s propensity to shove immaterial. 

** From a purely behavioral observation standpoint, they not only spend a great deal of time touching one another, but they also lick their lips and look at each other’s mouths while they speak, and their eye contact is more frequent and intense than would generally be expected. Their breathing is heavier and faster, and their voices are pitched lower. Stiles’ skin is often mildly flushed. All of this might only indicate nervousness, but these are also classic physiological signs of arousal.

***A quick off-topic personal note on the appeal of gay ships to straight women, and here I can speak only for myself. You mentioned in an interview today that you weren’t entirely sure what the appeal of gay ships was for straight women. As a bisexual woman, I’d like to point out one aspect of it (beyond the obvious salacious appeal of pretty boys kissing each other) that may not have occurred to you.

Androcentrism and sexism remain major problems in contemporary culture, and the influence of sexism is insidious. It has the capacity to impact every aspect of a woman’s life, including romantic relationships, especially when those relationships occur between a woman and a man. Gender performance in relationships often becomes a vector of inequality in relationships. How we consume media around relationships, how we fantasize about relationships impacts how we Perform gender in our relationships.

For me, part of the appeal of gay ships is that they have the capacity to take gender inequality out of the equation. Now, obviously a great many gay ships don’t do this, instead replicating gendered interpersonal dynamics with one character taking on a “feminized” role. But even the removal of the female body, regardless of the ongoing feminized gender performance, may still feel like a relief from the oppressive othering and categorizing that occurs. Our culture is so deeply androcentric (see Bem, The Lenses of Gender)that in some ways it would be easier if women didn’t exist, if we could all be the active, dynamic default person- specifically, male. Certain gay pairings allow a fantasized glimpse into a world wherein relationships are free of that dynamic, and wherein the relationship can be between two equally powerful and vulnerable individuals.


End file.
